He’s faded from the limelight somewhat in recent months thanks to huge power creep in Modern Horizons 3, but Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is still one of the most pushed Magic cards of all time. For a one-drop to serve so many different functions, and so efficiently as well, is wild. The card is so good, in fact, that it sees play in Commander, where its abilities are much less potent. Now with that in mind, imagine a creature that applies Ragavan’s particular set of skills to your other creatures. That’s exactly what Rev, Tithe Extractor does, and that’s exactly why I see her being a force in the MTG Commander format.
Rev, Tithe Extractor MTG
- Mana Value: 3B
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/3
- Card Text: Whenever you attack, target creature gains deathtouch until end of turn. Whenever one or more creatures you control deal combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token, then look at the top card of that player’s library and exile it face down. You may cast that card for as long as it remains exiled. (A Treasure token is an artifact with “{T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.”)
Rev, Tithe Extractor is one of the new anime-art-only legends from MTG Foundations Jumpstart. This means she’s only legal in Legacy, Vintage, and Commander. For our purposes, only the last of those three will be relevant.
Rev has two abilities, both of which look very nice indeed. The first grants one of your attacking creatures Deathtouch each time you swing. This is a keyword many players undervalue, and it feels rough to be on the receiving end of it in many cases. It also acts as a form of pseudo-evasion, which is important for Rev’s second ability.
Part two is the real juice here. Whenever one or more of your creatures connects with a player’s face, you get a Treasure token. You also get to ‘steal’ a card from the top of that player’s deck. This is where the Ragavan comparison comes in since his attacks did almost exactly the same thing.
Rev’s ability is a lot better, however. Where Ragavan only lets you cast the stolen card until end of turn, Rev lets you do so for the rest of the game. This applies even if Rev herself gets removed, which is a huge boon for an effect like this. Rev can also generate up to three steal triggers a turn depending on your board, since you get one per player damaged.
This is all excellent stuff, and the final cherry on top is that Rev herself never needs to attack to use either of her abilities. The first triggers when you attack in general, and the second is open in terms of the specific creatures that deal the damage. This lets Rev hang back and stay safe out of combat; a luxury our ol’ pal Ragavan was never afforded.
Skimming Off The Top(Deck)
I’ve already made it clear that I think Rev, Tithe Extractor is best suited to the MTG Commander format, and I’ll reiterate that here. The value she offers scales up massively with three opponents, after all. That said, I don’t think Rev will make a great Commander herself.
Her ability is efficient, yes, but it doesn’t support a viable playstyle, at least not within Rev’s Mono-Black color identity. Instead, I think this card’s best place is in the 99 for a theft-focused Commander like Gonti, Canny Acquisitor. You could also go with Evelyn, the Covetous instead for similar results. Basically, you want to run a Commander that gets you access to red or green.
Why? Because those are the colors where most of the good theft support cards are. Casting stolen cards is also casting spells from exile, which both colors have plenty of tools for. You can get discounts via Savvy Trader and Tlincalli Hunter, and other bonuses via Passionate Archaeologist and Nalfeshnee. Combined with Rev’s Treasure generation, cards like these can easily run away with the game.
If you do want to stick with Mono-Black, you’re still likely better off keeping Rev out of the command zone. She plays best as a supporting role in a black Aggro list, likely helmed by Ayara, First of Lochthwain or Marrow-Gnawer. The latter is a particularly good choice. Go-wide decks have the best chance of benefiting from the inclusion of Rev since they can consistently get in for damage.
Overall, Rev is an excellent addition to black’s Commander arsenal. She supports an established deck type in theft, but she’s also generically good enough to see play in pretty much any deck with creatures. No wonder her current price tag feels like a tithe in itself.
